Punakaiki Beach at Sunset, West Coast, South Island. New Zealand landscape photography by Todd Sisson.

This week’s wallpaper was made during the middle of ‘winter’ over on the West Coast – it was barely worth wearing a jersey. This balminess was quickly remedied with an 8 hour drive back to Central Otago

There’s a little story about the making of this shot on the blog, including details of my questionable child-minding skills…

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = wwp

Sunset over the Tasman Sea, from Gentle Annie Beach, West Coast. New Zealand landscape photography by Todd Sisson.

This is an image from a road trip we did with the kids two weeks ago to Nelson and the West Coast. The wheels fell off somewhat (figuratively) with a death in the family occuring and a whole lot of re-planning required – hence my absence once again.

Anyway, we are back into ‘normal’ life this week and busy at work trying to finish the new website that we started building 2 years ago…

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = wwp

Sunrise at Moeraki boulders, North Otago New Zealand. Landscape photography by Todd Sisson.

The cover shot for our new photography guide Living Landscapes, which went on sale today – check it out if you are interested in learning all of our nifty tricks and secrets

This image is one of a series of interesting shots that I managed to capture one very productive morning at Moeraki – I wish all of my 5AM starts worked out this well…. The wave motion is not photoshop jiggery-pokery, it is a 2 second long exposure made while the waves were receding (wet and frozen feet are a must for seascape photography).

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = wwp

The landscape photography eBook that has consumed my life for the past month is now in the hands of the designer and should be hitting the ‘shelves’ late this month.

In more uncharacteristically collaborative news – Sarah & I will be instructing at the first of celebrity HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff’s New Zealand Photo Adventures in late October (don’t hate me @Beautox! ;-). Check out the details – not cheap, but certainly a world class experience.

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = wwp

Early morning mist near Fox Glacier. West Coast, South Island New Zealand. Photography by Todd Sisson.

Morning mist and mellowness is the tone of today’s wallpaper. This was made somewhere on the Fox Glacier flats, near Lake Matheson – if you look closely, the Southern Alps are visible in the top right.

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = wwp

Welcome to yet another late instalment of Wednesday Wallpaper. I have fallen foul of the combined tyranny of school holidays and home renovations – last week I didn’t know that it was Wednesday until it was Friday….

This image is another ‘back catalogue’ discovery that turned up on a dusty hard drive last month – it catches my eye, maybe it will stir your tea too

I’m back in the office next week, so I should be on time.

Cheers – Todd

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Please note the new, shorter, Password = wwp

I fear that we may not be seeing too much of this juicy colour in 2013 – most of the trees seem to be kicking it in early after a summer of interminable thirst. Speaking of slaking one’s thirst – I understand that the pinot noir from this vineyard is pretty good value (according to someone who knows about these things).

Have a great Easter break – see you on the other side…

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Please note the new, shorter, Password = wwp

This image is up as a canvas print here and available for licencing here.

Summer evening fishing on the jetty at Lake Rotoma. New Zealand landscape photography by Todd Sisson.

A change of scene from all of last week’s mountainous drama-filled glory. I made this image while taking my little guy, Jack, out for a spot of fishing in January – if you look hard you can see his camo-clad figure at the end of the wharf. We caught nothing, but we made a significant blood donation to the local sandfly population.

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Please note the new, shorter, Password = wwp

This image is up as a canvas print here and available for licencing here.

This is one of my favourite images from last month’s Northern sojourn. On the previous evening I had headed out barefoot to wash my coffee cup and half an hour later found myself at the top of this hill (with very sore feet). I resolved to return the next morning to chance my arm at a shot (suitably be-hooved this time) – and this was the pick of the bunch IMHO.

Enjoy!

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = freewallpaper

This one is a bit of a rule breaker – putting out of focus elements into the foreground of an image is usually a no-no and instant death knell for an image. I am such a bad-ass rebel that I find myself doing it quite often, typically with poor results. This one works for me though, as it creates a stark delineation between the pillowy soft foreground and the contrasty background. As a bonus I have uploaded it in absurdly large format to keep kyotolaw’s retina Macbook happy

I noticed a couple of gear related comments on last week’s post, I thought I would respond here:

HDR – although we don’t employ HDR software such as photomatix we do extensively lean upon ‘extended dynamic range’ techniques to create more balanced exposures that retain a natural appearance. We used to blend exposures quite a lot but we are finding that the latest generation of Nikon cameras combined with Lightroom 3 are delivering near HDR tonal range from a single exposure. I have posted on this here on my neglected blog.

Cameras: We use Nikon DX and FX bodies these days – the D800e is getting the most use these days. Just to confuse things, we shot the Canon 5d mkii for several years (this was made on the 5dii) but have returned to Nikon upon the release of the D800.

If you have any further queries just contact me via the website.

2013 NZ Calendar

A reminder that our 2013 Calendar ‘South‘, featuring 12 of our most popular images – it is available exclusively from the webstore.

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = freewallpaper

Dramatic clouds over a summer field, somewhere near Moeraki, South Island New Zealand. Landscape photography by Todd Sisson

Welcome to the inaugural Wednesday Wallpaper US election special. What is the tenuous link between this image and today’s nail-shredding political deathmatch? Like me while shooting this image, it will come down to the wire. Sorry about that one – very ‘borderline’…..

2013 NZ Calendar

Some of you kiwiblog-kins may be interested in our 2013 Calendar ‘South‘, featuring 12 of our most popular images – it is available exclusively from the webstore.

Free Wallpaper Download

You may download the large version of today’s image from this link: Password = freewallpaper

Yes, it’s Wednesday Wallpaper time again! This week we are off to Kaikoura on a little marine mammal tangent. These dusky dolphins were photographed while on onboard with the Kaikoura Dolphin Encounter team – a very worthwhile excursion if you are ever in Kaikoura and the weather is good.

We had a little technical hitch last week, our website is in development mode at present and the download function was disabled – the large file downloads can be found at the amended link below until we get that issue tidied up. Sorry for any inconvenience – but you get what you pay for sometimes

You may download the large version from this link: Password = freewallpaper

Sunset on the summit of Aoraki / Mt Cook, New Zealand. Photography by Todd Sisson.

Welcome to the most timely Wallpaper Wednesday post in living memory (my memory only spans one month these days).

Having dissed sunset/sunrise images in my outro last week I now present you with a sunset image….

I almost blew the making of this image while indulging in a rare (in my humble opinion) dose of ego-mania. I had been set up for some time waiting for a thick valley fog to clear and provide a glimpse of the summit of Aoraki Mt Cook. While waiting, I got to talking with a couple of Australian photo enthusiasts and was modestly explaining how awesome I was – with my back turned to the mountain…. fortunately, one of the Aussies was sick of my rhetoric and kindly pointed out that the mountain was glowing orange. A frantic ‘practical demonstration’ of my awesome skills ensued. I was really lucky to get this, and one other, sharp shot out of the shoot as every other image was marred by sloppy technique.

This week’s Wednesday Wallpaper is one of the images I made while away in Fiordland last week. This capture was made from Real Journeys’ Patea Explorer while heading out of Doubtful Sound. I am particularly pleased with this image, as it is the first time I have managed to make a photo that captures Doubtful Sound’s beauty on an inclement day. My last 5 day trip resulted in exactly zero usable images, due to the abysmal weather conditions…..

Sunset on Walter and Cecil Peaks, Queenstown, seen from Coronet Peak road, South Island, New Zealand.

Welcome to a remotely posted Wednesday Wallpaper – I am out of town today, so hopefully WordPress scheduling is doing it’s thing…..

This image is of Queenstown from near the Coronet Peak road. It was the result of some serious personal discomfort, as I (unintentionally) found myself waist deep in a snow-filled ditch and straddling a barbed wire fence in order to get in position for this one…

Sunrise from the Pouakai ridge Mt Egmont National Park, Taranaki New Zealand

Welcome to Wednesday (and August).

A little respite from South Island scenery this week, this image was made from the Pouakai Ridge on the Northern flank of Mt Taranaki. Sarah & I hiked up in the dark on the previous evening – fortunately the sun broke through, as it would have been a lot of effort for a photo of fog & mist shrouded tusssocks….